Will Manny Ramirez find the peace of mind he seeks in the land of Gators and hanging chads? It's true: Our protagonist is THIS close to being a Marlin; words that in just about any other time would be a dire threat, but this year sound kind of intriguing. At any rate, Florida home attendance should skyrocket to the 20,000-per-game level. Several sources, including the Palm Beach Post and Baseball Prospectus, are reporting that the three-way deal involving the Red Sox, Marlins and Pirates is already done; and just waiting for Brett Favre to send a fax to the Packers. No, that's not right, sorry. Apparently, it's John Grabow holding up the works. Damn it, Grabow!

So here’s what Pee Wee Herman would call the “big but”: the teams, I am told, have not agreed on the specific prospects to be included in the deal. It’s expected that in addition to the principals, the Red Sox would get John Grabow and give up two prospects, while the Marlins would get one prospect and give up two. There’s still a lot of haggling but my scribbling notes make it look like the structure of the deal is: Marlins get Manny Ramirez, one prospect (Red Sox), and cash (likely covering Ramirez’s remaining salary) Pirates get Jeremy Hermida and three prospects (two Marlins, one Red Sox) Red Sox get Jason Bay and John Grabow There is still potential for this to fall apart over the prospects, but things appear closer now than ever before.

And here's the quote of the day:

The idea of obtaining Ramirez was driven by owner Jeffrey Loria, who is trying to return his team to the playoffs for the first time since 2003, when the Marlins won the World Series. "Jeffrey is an art dealer. Jeffrey has always collected the world's greatest art pieces. In the game of baseball, Manny is a Picasso,'' said another baseball source with knowledge of the deal. "It doesn't surprise me. Hey, nobody thought Jeffrey would get Pudge (Rodriguez) years ago and, sure enough, he did.